DAYS 22-24: Laying Eggs (15 min)
The adult butterflies are ready to lay eggs about four to five days after they emerge, and will continue to lay eggs for a few days. The eggs are tiny and difficult to see unless you observe closely. Many of my students saw the females depositing eggs on the leaves and tried again to make observations to distinguish females from males. Other students observed that the females were laying eggs in patterns on leaves and also spreading the eggs between different leaves. This is a great opportunity to take a movie or still picture of the beginning of the next stage in the butterfly life cycle. Make sure that all students have had a chance to use the QX3 and its different functions: still images, movies, and time-lapse.
Female Painted Lady Laying Eggs on Hollyhock Leaf
(Photo taken with digital camera)
Close-up of Painted Lady Egg
200x
(Photo taken with QX3 microscope)
This is the fourth and final metamorphic stage of the Painted Lady butterfly life cycle. It is important for the students to view the eggs with the digital microscope in order to be able to observe and sketch the egg accurately. They will appear translucent and bluish-white and are shaped like a barrel with ridges down the sides.
